Update: Patrick Strateman continues theft and embezzlement. Over 200 million dollars owed to Thousands of Users
When I first wrote the article on this website, my intention was to expose the embezzlement and theft that Patrick Strateman and Amir Taaki had perpetrated on so many clients of a business that they themselves co-founded. At the time, I was under the impression that, of the thousands of people robbed, the vast majority were unaware. After all, most criminals don’t embezzle money if they know they will immediately get caught. I was caught off-guard by some of the things I have sense discovered, a cruel and concerted preying of the desperation of many people which took place over the course of years.
If you have been effected but you have not yet submitted a criminal report PLEASE DO SO.
Please submit your complaint to each of the following places and also please email Criminal.Division@usdoj.gov
https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/
https://www.ic3.gov/Home/FileComplaint
After writing the article, many people reached out to me and, as I stated, I found out that my intuition that people were silently robbed was untrue. I uncovered an incredible number of communications proving that, with sociopathic cruelty and complete indifference to the devastating effect this theft had on so many people, Patrick Strateman and Amir Taaki continuously preyed on the desperation of clients they once took a pledge to protect, often stringing people along for years with false hope and empty promises. You will see some of these examples below.
In a world where few people can afford civil litigation, chasing down a debt which may not even be payable was, for almost everyone, not an option. Strateman and Taaki slowly squeezed people out of their accounts. Once they knew they could get away with it, they robbed people en mass, and they continued to give their victims false hope to stave off a lawsuit or criminal prosecution. Strateman would go on to take great pains to bury evidence by unexpectedly taking down the support ticketing system and failing to provide this evidence in the course of civil litigation.
People couldn’t understand why Strateman was willing to say he had their funds but not pay out. The truth is criminals like Strateman understand the complacency of law enforcement or how changing jurisdictions (like Strateman did) would cause law enforcement to not pursue him. The effects of Strateman’s and Taaki’s theft and deceit had consequential and dramatic impacts on the lives of many. After years of gaslighting, some who were owed enormous amounts actually came to fear for their safety.
While, for the purposes of this account, I have redacted the names of these people, most are willing to talk to law enforcement and reporters. I will be more than happy to put law enforcement in touch with these people.
Separating a husband from his pregnant wife
In one case, a gentleman who signed a declaration under oath, testifies (and gives email evidence linked here) to the devastating effect of Strateman’s and Taaki’s theft and gaslighting. While expecting a child, this person needed to leave his pregnant wife, to work abroad in order to support his new family. Had Strateman paid him, he would not have had to do so. In emails linked below, you can read the multi-year deception, and gaslighting and false promises Strateman makes to keep him at bay. You can also see Taaki’s admission that Strateman may never pay out. Still, despite Taaki’s awareness of Strateman’s crimes, he failed to even sign a document (as shown in the emails) which would have exposed these crimes a decade earlier. Taaki then continued to benefit from being member to this conspiracy with Strateman. Strateman would go on to pay Taaki millions of dollars in bitcoin over the following years.
Email 1 Declaration 1 Notarized Document 1
Email 2 Declaration 2 Notarized Document 2
Email 3 Declaration 3 Notarized Document 3
Email 4 Declaration 4
Email 5 Declaration 5
Email 6
Stealing from a client who was taking care of his dying mother
In another instance, one client, who is owed many millions in bitcoin, pleaded with Strateman in 2013, 2014 and 2015 to return his funds. This person even offered to travel intercontinentally to visit Strateman to resolve the issue. During this time, this gentleman was nursing his dying mother and declares that she would have experienced far more comfort in her final days had Strateman paid him what he was owed. Strateman, who had stolen many millions, was not moved.
Declaration 1 Email
Declaration 2 Form
Declaration 3 Form 2
Declaration 4
Declaration 5
These two examples are merely the tip of the iceberg. I have corresponded with many clients who have memorialized their interactions and provided declarations under penalty of perjury. Many of them however used the Intersango ticketing system, records which Patrick Strateman failed to produce in litigation. When Strateman took down the ticketing system, only those who had taken screenshots were lucky enough to still have records of the communication. One client, for instance, corresponded many times over the course of a twelve month period before finally giving up. Strateman hid these business communications. All the client was left with was boiler plate emails showing communication existed.
Communication from all people referenced was covered up, only after they contacted me did I become aware of their great efforts to retrieve their assets and Strateman’s and Taaki’s efforts to lead them on and give them false hope.
Upon request by law enforcement, I am happy to provide this information. Many have memorialized proof of their communications, many remember exactly how much they are owed and have been telling their friends and family for the past decade about this theft. At least one case involves a single mother of a two year old child who is owed, by all measures, a life-changing amount of money. Unfortunately, I have only been able to establish communication with a very small minority of the thousands that are owed as Strateman limited access and oversight preventing scrutiny.
Further proof shows that many independent complaints from clients back in 2014 (when Strateman unilaterally took down the site) led to a police investigation. One person, with whom I recently corresponded, shared an email from law enforcement. The email reads, “… there are a number of victims linked to this report with addresses across the world…” These are the words of an investigating officer who dealt with this particular case in the United Kingdom. A link to this email can be found here.
My Attempts to Get People Paid
Even earlier, when I believed almost everyone who wasn’t paid was unaware of the embezzlement, I still took great pains to not only expose this but actually force Strateman to pay people. Until recently, I hesitated from fully disclosing all the efforts I undertook to return clients their funds due to potential confidentiality issues.
In the article I wrote, I discussed how I brought the lawsuit all the way to trial (despite encountering serious judicial corruption from a judge, Harold Khan). Harold Khan even attempted to bring me into Strateman's embezzlement conspiracy by his willingness to negotiate allowing Strateman to keep client funds in exchange for paying me more money.
In any event, a term of the settlement I attempted to make with Strateman has recently become public due to discussion of it in open court. So, I can discuss it. In this term, I (thought) I had forced Patrick Strateman to pay people back. As one of the negotiated conditions, I demanded that clients be paid back.
Unfortunately, in a way I could never have predicted, over the coming months I would find out that Strateman would continue to act in bad faith and challenge his commitment to pay clients back (despite ongoing assertions to the contrary). It became very clear that something again was rotten.
Here are the ways he did this:
1. He filed the opposition motion in the Hamnett lawsuit. If you go and read this submission, Strateman argues that he has no obligation to pay this Intersango client who is owed a life-changing amount of money. Strateman continues to fabricate reasons for why this person, who I personally know is owed, should not be paid.
2. He argued that ‘Britcoin’ users were not Intersango users. And that even if Britcoin users were Intersango users, he wouldn't necessarily be forced to honor any commitment to pay them. All this despite having their bitcoin. He completely lied saying he had not benefited from this client’s money.
3. He argued ‘statute of limitations’ as a technical defence, despite the fact that on the stand literally two months earlier he said he would return people their bitcoin.
4. He has argued people couldn't verify themselves when they clearly had been able to verify themselves.
5. And he simply continued to ignore people and spin basic facts in just generally Orwellian ways while at the same time taking every opportunity to deny any oversight over any process of returning client funds.
6. At some point in time, it also became apparent that Strateman does not, in fact, have all of the client bitcoin. As of recently, he does have 3600 bitcoin which goes a long way, but evidence suggest that there is a massive shortfall based upon how much the customers are owed.
7. And finally, in ridiculous fashion, Strateman’s own lawyer recently argued that somehow I had forfeited Strateman’s obligation to pay back clients the forked coins he stole from them due to the fact that forked coins were not explicitly mentioned in the settlement agreement.
Zac Alinder “In terms of the forked coins, that was a known issue obviously at trial. It was settled. Mr. Norman settled those claims.”
It is dishonest actions like these that spurred me to write the initial article. It was through that article and people subsequently reaching out to me (or me to them) that I was able to find so many instances of Strateman’s modus operandi.
Did I Ever Take Client Money?
“He [Norman] wouldn't give us any way to pay him the money under the settlement agreement” Zac Alinder (attorney for the defense)
At some point, by watching the blockchain, I found evidence that Strateman intended to pay me with client funds. Of course Strateman would love nothing more than my passive acceptance of a contract that, according to his interpretation, is greatly lacking in enforceability. Without him agreeing to an auditing provision, with him playing loose with what constitutes an Intersango client, what constitutes Intersango Bitcoin and with him lying about client verification, I am happy to state that I NEVER accepted any client funds and refuse to have any settlement turn into some sort of payoff.
Ironically, even the incredibly disinterested judge, commented on this problem “An audit and so forth, sounds like a great idea, it was not part of this settlement.” In essence to say, "tough luck".
Also, ironically, this settlement, or at least Strateman’s ‘interpretation’ of this settlement makes it harder for me to actually ensure bitcoin are returned to clients.
My only ability in the future may be to assist clients who reach out to me directly. For those individuals in the future I may be able to bring matters in front of a court and have their cases heard on a one by one basis, something generally highly uneconomical for the vast vast majority of cases.
No Transparency and an On-going Crime
None of this has any bearing on the fundamental truth around this entire situation. Patrick Strateman has stolen and continues to embezzle what is now, by his own admission, around 200 million dollars worth of client bitcoin.
So, if you have been effected but you have not yet submitted a criminal report PLEASE DO SO.
Please submit your complaint to each of the following places and also remember to email Criminal.Division@usdoj.gov